Game publisher pulls real weapons promotion

Electronic Arts has pulled a charity promotion that involved the sale of actual weapons featured in the first-person shooter game Medal of Honour.

This year, the game publishing giant teamed up with weapons manufacturers to create Project Honor - a fund-raiser that aimed to "benefit the families of special operations warriors".

As a part of the deal, arms makers had their weapons featured in the game and also produced merchandise that included actual weapons, the sale of which would benefit various war charities.

The website for the latest game in the series, Medal of Honour Warfighter, originally had links to the arms manufacturers' websites, where people could buy weapons, such as the "Voodoo Hawk" Tomahawk, which features an "extending cutting head".

These have since been taken down after numerous complaints from both within and outside the gaming community about the promotion of the sale of deadly weapons on the game's website.

"We've been working with those partners because we wanted to be authentic, and we wanted to give back to the communities," Medal of Honour executive producer Greg Goodrich told gaming website Eurogamer.

The publisher was also quick to assure customers that their games were "experiences" rather than teaching tools, and do not encourage violence in real life.

Despite public outcry, it is understood that the partnerships between Electronic Arts and the arms manufacturers are still in place; the weapons are just not being promoted on the Medal of Honour of website.